The Only Way is Up.

Traveling in South America is a constant battle between the outstanding natural beauty and the choking poverty and pollution of the towns and cities. Towns overrun with farm animals, construction and detours everywhere, roads jam-packed with ubiquitous passenger vans shuttling people in all directions, and buses and trucks with unmaintained diesel engines spewing carcinogens in indiscriminate black clouds.

La Paz, Bolivia is a perfect example. There is no city in the world more visually stunning than La Paz; sitting in a canyon that has protected if from the Altiplano winds and worst of the high altitude weather for centuries, the views of the city are amazing from the edge of the cliff. The city was originally a small mining town when the Spanish showed up and took over. Today it is spilling further and further down the canyon with unplanned building on every slope. Sadly the white capped Mount Illimani was masked by train clouds today but normally makes a thrilling backdrop.

But the combined population of La Paz and neighbouring El Alto is over 2.3 million and they are crammed into a place with no level ground and no history, money, or ability to create effective public transport. When we arrived into El Alto, the main road to La Paz was dug up for over five kilometers and we resorted to just riding our big BMW go-anywhere bikes along the roadworks just ignoring the puzzled onlookers who scurried out of the way.

It seems that the citizens of El Alto are fed up with the roadworks too. When I tried to get a cab to a famous overlook spot, every road was blocked with peaceful demonstrations by local lady organisers campaigning against the mayor of El Alto. “Less money on roads and more money on education” was the basic message. Luckily I got out of there before rush hour as you cannot imagine the chaos that was about to occur.

That is not to say that the city isn’t trying to do something about public transport. If you cannot dig a metro or lay railway lines or build freeways, where can you go? You go UP. The city now has three working lines of the Mi Teleférico system that looks like it ought to be running up a swanky Swiss ski slope. The pylons take up almost no room, the system is quiet and non-polluting, and the sensation of flying above the chaos is electrifying. I rode the system up to the edge of El Alto, then all the way back to the south side of the city. Very impressive.

Photos: The Yellow Line Teleférico that runs from downtown La Paz to the edge of El Alto 2000 feet higher – The Teleférico over the previous technology the yellow stairs up the El Alto – Ladies complaining to the Mayor about roadworks – Panorama of La Paz from El Alto.